Equity Residential (EQR) Stock Analysis

 As part of my first year curriculum within the UW-Madison MBA program, I took a class entitled Real Estate 765: Equity Investments. I knew based on interactions with second year students in the Real Estate MBA program that this course would be tough and labor-intensive. Still, I felt grateful that I was able to take the class and learn from a UW-Madison Real Estate alum who is currently working in equity analysis.

Throughout the duration of the class, each student was required to select a publicly traded REIT (real estate investment trust) in order to do analysis on the company and its stock over the course of the semester. Weekly assignments were like a “piece of the puzzle” as we were each working toward a final buy/sell recommendation for the company as our final project and presentation.

As someone particularly interested in working in the apartment sector, I chose Equity Residential (EQR) as my company for the duration of the semester. EQR was founded by Sam Zell in 1969 and went public as an UPREIT in 1993. In my final report I have outlined, among other topics, the history, strategy, portfolio, capital structure, and valuation metrics for EQR.

Click here to view my Equity Residential Stock Analysis and Buy/Sell Recommendation.